Legend attacks US ‘college places for rich’ scam

JOHN Legend has spoken out about the US’s university admissions bribery scandal that includes the arrests of actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

On the red carpet ahead of his performance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, the musician, pictured, maintained the US admissions system has been unfairly slanted for a long time – even the legal way to do it.

‘The bottom line is, the system has been rigged for wealthy people for a long time,’ he told Entertainment Tonight. ‘The admissions system rewards people’s parents being wealthy and people’s parents having gone to a certain school. There’s a lot of legal ways to do that which still aren’t really that fair to a lot of other people.’

The singer was referring in part to legacy admissions where universities give certain applicants preference due to their familial relationship to alumni of that institution.

Others have also long complained that those who make legal donations to colleges and universities get preferential treatment when it comes to their family members enrolling. ‘I went to a good school,’ said Legend, regarding his studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are alleged to have paid $500,000 (€440,000) in bribes to have their two daughters designated as recruits for the University of Southern California’s crew team.

Huffman, of Desperate Housewives fame, is alleged to have paid $15,000 as a purported charitable contribution in order to have her eldest daughter’s SAT scores increased.

Both actresses are to appear in court in Boston on March 29.